66 Months After Bowling Mentor Stint, Lasith Malinga Joins Mumbai Indians As Fast-Bowling Coach

Former Sri Lanka captain Lasith Malinga‘s association with Mumbai Indians has received another chapter after he has joined one of the most successful Indian Premier League franchises in the capacity of a fast-bowling coach for the 17th season of the biggest T20 tournament in the world.

Malinga, the last of whose nine-season IPL career with MI had come in 2019, will undergo a homecoming of sorts after half-a-decade next year.

Malinga, 13 of whose 45 international matches across formats against New Zealand had come with fast bowler Shane Bond in the opposition’s Playing XI, will replace him in the same capacity at Indians. Having played eight matches for Kolkata Knight Riders in his only IPL season in 2010, Bond had joined Mumbai in 2015.

Lasith Malinga Joins Mumbai Indians As Fast-Bowling Coach

Malinga, who played the same role for a couple of seasons at Rajasthan Royals under former Sri Lanka captain and current head coach Kumar Sangakkara, will be registered as a third major change made to MI’s support staff in the last 12 months.

For those who don’t know, former South Africa wicket-keeper batter Mark Boucher had replaced former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene as the head coach in September 2022. A couple of months later, former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard had replaced former India batter Robin Singh as the batting coach.

Mumbai Indians Had Signed Lasith Malinga As Bowling Mentor For IPL 2018

A main reason behind writing the first line of this piece is how Malinga has been part of the Rohit Sharma-led franchise’s support staff in the past as well. Unsold in IPL 2018 auction, he had joined Indians as a bowling mentor.

“It’s a great opportunity to be present with, and an honour to continue my association with Mumbai Indians. Mumbai has been my home away from home for the last decade. As a player, I have enjoyed the journey with Mumbai Indians and now as mentor, I look forward to the new chapter,” Malinga had said in a statement back then.

In what was a strange phase in a player’s career who later returned to lead Sri Lanka in 23 white-ball matches before eventually retiring in 2020, Malinga wasn’t even getting opportunities from the national team around IPL 2018 auction. Malinga, who didn’t play an international match for a year, was himself unsure of why he was being rested for every series.

Malinga, who had worked alongside Bond during IPL 2018, had returned in the capacity of a player in the following season. Interestingly, the same ended up being his last IPL season as a player after he had withdrawn from IPL 2020 due to personal reasons. Before IPL 2020 and IPL 2018, the only other season when Malinga had skipped the cash-rich league was in 2016 (knee injury).